Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-11-16
THE LONDON RIOTS.

What might have been 8 bloody riot In
Trafalgar Square, London, was proven
ted by the prompt action of the police
and military, without the loss of a lfe,
and with by few casualties compare
lively. The right of the government to
prohibit meetings will be tested ere long
and the decision will have considerable
effect upon the Irish question. What is
law in London ought to be law in Ire
land. Bradlsugh and Gladstone, both
towers Of strength among the masses,
have advised patience on the part of the
workingmen. They claim, as they
cl.imed in the case of Ireland, and the
Irish LIND League meetings, that pro-
claiming and preventing public meet
ings, and suppresslng free speech
by the government was fla
grant violation OF law and an invasion
of the constitutional rights of the people
It is TO be hoped that the counsels Of
these leaders will prevail and that the
question may be fully tested by Psrlis-
ment. A riot in London is an awful
calamity. They have had many OF them
the corn riots, the bread riots, religious
riots and others, and at all times in the
the last three centuries, the mob despoiled
millions of dollars worth of property be-
fore the militia and train bands could
succeed In suppressing it. The English
mob is VIGOROUSLY destructive. LootiDg
shops and breaking doors and windows
of houses seems to crafty 1t more than
anything else. Sometimes the torch is
applied, but ordinarily such damage as
can be done by physical force is sufficient
to satisfy the crowd. In this day and
time, riots cannot terminate with q
few broken heads and few
demolished bake shops. Even the fierce
f.naticisms which characterized reli-
glous riot, with all the rich colorlng
given to it by Dickens, in Barnaby Ridge,
is mere lawn tennis diversion to what at
any moment may occur. Thousands have
suffered in former riotings, but the i'm
plements Of death in the hands Of the
sggressors were ladies' fans, as COM
pared with the inventions of modern &C.
ence. One man with pocket full CT
dynamite bombs can DO more damage,
create more havoc, destroy more prop
erty and mur1er more people than could
1O0s have done century ago. And there
sre dynamiters in London, hundreds Of
them, who would hail with delight an op-
portunity to enter upon a reign Of
terror. They are held in check by the
strong arm of the law, by policemen, SOL
diers, and constables, snd restraint 1s
CALLING to them, They sre anxious to
cross the Rabicon and will force them
selves forward whenever there are labor
| troubles. Americans feel sympathy for
the laboring classes of England. They
have to obey the laws, while they have no
hand or voice in making them and they
have to tolerate and support classes and
cripge before superiors in q manner
which would induce an American to ny
or fight; but with these illegal demonstra-
tions, when red and black flags wave and
where apostles of destruction preach their
bsrbarous creed of blood and carnage,
we can have no sympathy. The Haymar-
ket tragedy in Chicsgo has changed tas
opinions of the civilized world ON the
subject of free speech snd personal lis-=
erty; and, while none OF the rights OF me
people should be taken from them, it is